SINGAPORE – A fire broke out at the back of a restaurant in Geylang on Saturday evening.

According to Chinese news daily Lianhe Zaobao, the fire started on the second floor of the Xiao Xiang Yuan Hunan Restaurant, near the junction of Geylang Road and Lorong 12 Geylang.

A worker at the adjacent coffee shop, who identified herself only as Ann, told Zaobao that upon discovering the fire, she switched off the electricity at her workplace and evacuated to a safe place.

Videos posted on social media show bystanders across Geylang Road watching as black smoke billowed out the back of the row of shophouses.

Personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were seen rolling out fire hoses while the police cordoned off the area and directed traffic around emergency vehicles.

Another video shows passers-by taking videos of the fire in an alley behind the restaurant.

The SCDF told The Straits Times it was alerted to the fire at 6.15pm.

The fire, which involved the contents of a two-storey shophouse, was extinguished with two water jets, said SCDF.

It added that eight people had already evacuated the shophouse before SCDF’s arrival at the scene. One person was assessed by SCDF but subsequently did not want to be taken to hospital.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, said SCDF.